TV Review: IMPACT Wrestling #613 (Hardy & Tyrus vs. Hardy & Galloway)

On 12th April 2016, TNA aired the 613th episode on IMPACT Wrestling on POP TV, having taped the action on 18th March 2016 at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, USA. Matt Hardy teamed with fellow Matt Hardy Brand member Tyrus to fight Jeff Hardy and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway with the winning side being able to choose a stipulation for IMPACT Wrestling #614's Hardy vs. Hardy clash and Ethan Carter III went one on one with "The Miracle" Mike Bennett...but was it any good? Let's take a look.

impact wrestling #613 match card

Match 1 - TNA World Tag Team Championship Four Corners - Beer Money Inc.: Bobby Roode & James Storm (C) vs. The Bro-Mans: Jessie Godderz & Robbie E vs. The Decay: Abyss & Crazzy Steve w/Rosemary vs. Bram and TNA King of the Mountain Champion Eric Young

Match 2 - Men's Singles - TNA X-Division Champion Trevor Lee with Gregory Shane Helms vs. DJ Z

Match 3 - Men's Singles - "The Miracle" Mike Bennett vs. Ethan Carter III "EC3"

Match 4 - TNA Knockout's Championship - Madison Rayne vs. Jade (C)

Match 5 - Men's Tag Team – The Matt Hardy Brand: Tyrus & Matt Hardy vs. “The Charismatic Enigma” Jeff Hardy & TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway (Winner selects stipulation for Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy match on IMPACT Wrestling #614)

hardy vs. hardy confirmed for next week

Matt Hardy kicked the show off surrounded by the Matt Hardy Brand, and continued to develop elements of his character, following being unsuccessful in regain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on IMPACT Wrestling #612. Matt blamed Jeff Hardy for the loss and ripped into his brother in a passionate and slightly over-the-top promo. With Jeff quickly interrupting Matt, this segment boiled down to the pair agreeing to a match where the name "Hardy" would be on the line. Whilst parts of the segment bordered on ridiculous, both Hardy's put in entertaining performances and came out with some cracking lines throughout the segment. Jeff throwing barbs at his sister-in-law Reby Sky is always fun to watch, so I got a big kick out him saying “The only thing I'm scared of is your crazy bitch genes inside my family tree”.

beer money defeat the bro-mans, the decay and young & bram to retain the tna world tag team championships

Booked as an Invitational contest, Josh Matthews was for some reason surprised when the three teams advertised on TNA's website as being apart of the match actually accepted the challenge, but that's not surprising considering this is Josh Matthews.  The bout boiled down to mostly a ringside brawl before the contest fully got started, followed up by some fun stuff from the two babyface teams before some heel miscommunication from Bram and Eric Young, allowed James Storm to hit the later with the Last Call Superkick to pick up the victory. There was enough talent, enough variety in styles and enough on-going and past storylines to produce a world class opening match here. Unfortunately whilst most of the action was of a high quality, it was way too short to fully showcase the division fully and a big missed opportunity.

fast-forward...Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy collide backstage and agree to a Tag Team bout later on with next week's stipulation on the line...

corgan steps in to control the knockout's division

I fucking hated this segment. For everything other companies have done to change how they present their female performers, this was a major step back for TNA in my opinion. The segment started fine, I suppose, with Jade refusing to give Maria her TNA Knockout's Championship, before Gail Kim interrupted and things quickly went down hill. I cringed when Gail said that her problems with Maria were "a little more important" than the title. Just no, Gail. No. The segment soon became an omnishambles, with The Dollhouses' Marti Belle and Rebel coming out and seemingly having some issues with Jade, whilst Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky of the Beautiful People also arrived to say something, probably. The women bickered about who was the "leader" of the Knockout's Division and all in all were made to look like silly little girls. I felt embarrassed for everyone involved. Billy Corgan then turned up to cool things down, because he's a man and randomly booked Jade to defend her title against Madison Rayne later on in the show for no reason and then made a match to crown a new Leader of the Knockout's for next week. Shit. 

fast-forward...Ethan Carter III cut a hot promo on his upcoming match with Mike Bennett tonight, backstage...

dj z defeats lee 

This was originally announced as Trevor Lee defending the TNA X Division Championship against Eddie Edwards, however the continuing Gregory Shane Helms sage saw Edwards taken out backstage and then Helms issuing the second open challenge of the show. Of course, DJ Z made his return to TNA after a two and a half month absence to answer the challenge. Lee and DJ Z did the best they probably could inside three minutes and both men worked hard to fit as much as possible into the contest. It should be obvious to anyone that three minutes of action is ridiculous, even more so when you consider this is the only ring-time that Lee has received since the end of February. After DJ Z had grabbed a surprise victory by turning Lee's Small Package Driver into a regular small package, Edwards was then perfectly fit to save DJ Z from a post-match attack from Helms in a confusing piece of booking. 

bennett defeats ec3 via disqualification

After some strong build-up over the last few weeks, I couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointing by the first meeting between Mike Bennett and Ethan Carter III. Things started well, with EC3 attacking Bennett before the bell rang which showcased EC3's frustration with his rival and an early spot that saw EC3 reverse Bennett's suplex attempt to hit one of his own on the ramp also stood out. I just wish that Bennett had sold the move a bit more in the latter portions of the bout, to really make the moment matter. For me, pretty much everything here felt very rushed, both in terms of the layout of the bout (EC3's comeback seemed to come way too soon) and in the flow and transitions of the action. Things certainly weren't as smooth as you'd want for a marquee contest. I did like the idea of EC3 getting more and more frustrated with Maria's involvement in the match, which would eventually climax with EC3 nailed his adversary with a steel chair to cause the disqualification. There's certainly more to come from the Bennett vs. EC3 feud and I'm hoping that the pair produce a much better effort next time round, as they're definitely capable of much better than what they showed here. 

fast-forward...Al Snow speaks directly to camera and says he was wrong to attack Grado and Mahabali Shera on IMPACT Wrestling #611 and that he's heading to the ring to call them out...

snow attacks shera again for reasons

If I could have cared any less about this segment, I probably would have imploded or something. It seems that the crowd felt the same way, as they were completely silent throughout the whole sorry affair. Al Snow was out to apologise to Mahabali Shera and Grado, with the former WWF Tag Team Champion calling out Shera. Grado was apparently still in hospital two weeks after Snow's attack and couldn't be there. With most of the audience on the brink of entering a coma, Shera agreed to be coached by Snow. Snow then snapped an beat the shit into Shera whilst the crowd chanted "You Still Got It", which probably summed up the entire shitty affair. 

fast-forward...Tyrus confronted TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway backstage, with another reminder that Tyrus has a title shot and such...

jade defeats rayne to retain the tna knockout's championship 

This was a decent match that was torn apart by some of the worst commentary that has ever been broadcast on television. Josh Matthews and "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero are the shits. Here's a couple of example of their arseholery. Matthews "Jade reminds me of Ronda Rousey" Dinero "She's like a hybrid of Ronda Rousey and Gail Kim". Any follow up on that guys? Nah, fuck it. Here's some more. Matthews "You can learn all about your favourite stars and knockout's on social media". Thanks Josh, you fucking prick salad. Jade would pick up a fairly swift victory with her weak looking STO to give her her first title defense. I was too busy noting down the piss-poor commentary to notice anything that made the bout stand out.

hardy and tyrus defeat hardy and galloway, lashley attacks galloway

The main event managed to rescue the show just a little, as Matt Hardy and Tyrus overcame Jeff Hardy and TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway in tag team action to allow Matt to select an "I Quit" Match as his stipulation for next week's Hardy vs. Hardy contest. A sound tag bout, that was well structured to make the most out of the four performers and played out in front of a crowd who were hot for the action throughout. The build towards both Hardy's clashing in the ring was the main narrative of the contest, with Galloway being worked over in the World Champ in peril role. Jeff was all over his brother, hitting a number of Twist of Fate's and when Galloway managed to take out Tyrus with a Claymore Kick it seemed like Jeff would finally have the contest won. However, there was finally twist in the story as Reby Sky turned up to hand Matt a hammer behind the refs back, with Matt taking full advantage of the situation. The visual of Matt lifting a prone Jeff off the mat to hit a Twist of Fate was the strongest moment of the show for me and capped a solid main event off well. After the match, Lashley turned up and ripped apart Galloway with a series of Spears, making it clear that The Destroyer has his sights once again set on the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

finally...

atpw scale rating - 2.78/10

The worst episode of IMPACT Wrestling for a very long time, certainly the worst episode of the show that's aired in 2016 so far. The main event tag bout was the shining light through the show and even that was perhaps only above average. The other marquee bout on the show between Ethan Carter III and Mike Bennett was another decent clash, but failed to live up to the hype. The under-card was highlighted by an fun opening segment with The Matt Hardy Brand and Jeff Hardy that would set up the main event's for this show and the next, but unfortunately pretty much the every other supporting moment on the episode was pure shite. The Knockout's segment, Al Snow trying to be relevant in 2016 and some of the worst commentary that has ever aired worked towards making this the shit-fest that it was.

Hopefully, with the Hardy vs. Hardy "I Quit" bout next week, TNA will be able to get back onto the level that they have been for the best part of 2016 so far.

TV Review: TNA Impact Wrestling #611 (Galloway vs. Hardy *TNA World Heavyweight Championship*)

Check out the review of last week's Impact Wrestling with a look at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender's Gauntlet here. 

On 29th March 2016, TNA aired the 611th episode of Impact Wrestling, having previously taped the event on the 16th March 2016 at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, USA, on POP TV. The show featured Jeff Hardy challenging for Drew Galloway's TNA World Heavyweight Championship and a Six Man Tag Team match seeing TNA World Tag Team Champions Beer Money teaming with Ethan Carter III to take on The Matt Hardy Brand's Matt Hardy & Tyrus, as well as "The Mircacle" Mike Bennett...but was it any good? Let's find out!

impact wrestling #611 match card

Match 1 – Four on One Handicap Match – The Matt Hardy Brand vs. Ethan Carter III

Match 2 – Six Man Tag Team – The Matt Hardy Brand (Matt Hardy & Tyrus) & Mike Bennett w/Maria vs. Ethan Carter III & Beer Money

Match 3 – TNA Knockout's Championship #1 Contender's – Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne

Match 4 – Tag Team – Bram & Eric Young vs. The Bro-Mans

Match 5 – TNA World Heavyweight Championship – Jeff Hardy vs. Drew Galloway ©  

the matt hardy brand vs. ethan carter iii

Not a classic opening of Impact Wrestling here, in fact things ended up being a bit of mess. It felt like creative had three or four ideas to start the show and then decided to do them all. The fact that it went over 25 minutes and included two matches tells you quite a lot in and of itself. The Matt Hardy Brand kicked off the show, with Matt Hardy winding up the fans and taking shots at his brother, Jeff, before he was oddly interrupted "The Miracle" Mike Bennett and Maria. An odd heel vs. heel dynamic here as Bennett cut into Hardy for his age and claimed that nobody wanted to see him as TNA World Heavyweight Champion again, which got cheers. I'm not sure what the aim was here, in either the short term of the long term. The two were stopped from having a scrap by Ethan Carter III. Why would EC3 stop them from fighting? Well, he didn't really explain that, he just called The Matt Hardy Brand his three bitches and spoke to God about Bennett's career. EC3's creativity usual leads to a home run, unfortunately he struck out with this one. Hardy would then book himself and the rest of the Matt Hardy Brand (Tyrus, Rockstar Spud and Reby Sky) into a Four on One Handicap Match, because he can do that type of thing apparently.

After one weird arse set-up for the match, the contest was a pretty paint-by-numbers affair. Tyrus spent a lot of the match working over EC3 with a series of fairly basic moves (big clubbing blows and scoop slams) with the match seeming kind of directionless at times. The only stand out moment for me was Hardy holding EC3 so that Reby could slap him in the face repeatedly, which produced a sweet visual and showcased the relationship between Hardy & Reby particularly well. The finish featured some decent action between EC3 and Spud, but it'd come to a close when Bennett decided to interfere (he and Maria had stayed at ringside). EC3 had just locked Spud in a Cobra Clutch, so Bennett caused the DQ. After the previous segment, I just couldn't my head round the motives for Bennett stopping the match. Things got even more confusing when TNA World Tag Team Champions Beer Money made the save for EC3 and James Storm booked a six man tag bout to happen next. Seriously, can anyone just make a match? The rocky start continued...

the matt hardy brand and mike bennett vs. beer money and ethan carter iii

I wish that TNA had just start the show with this six man tag team match, because this was a much more enjoyable contest and an easier watch than what had gone before it. James Storm was in the face in peril role, with Tyrus doing a nice job of focusing on his ribs and The Pope actually doing a quality job of putting it over on commentary. EC3 and Bennett would eventually fight to the back, with The Miracle using Maria as a human shield, to advance their new feud. This would leave Beer Money alone with Hardy and Tyrus, with the crowd really into Storm and Bobby Roode as a duo, especially when they ran through their crowd pleasing come back sequence. I was surprised to see the heels pick up the win as Tyrus hit a heart punch and allowed Hardy to hit a Twist of Fate to get the pinfall on Roode. Seeing as the bout had basically become a regular tag team match, I'm not sure having the World Tag Team Champions lose, when the division is weak enough already, was the best idea. Well, after 25 minutes and a half minutes it was finally time for TNA to move onto something.

fast-forward...Jeremy Borash interviewed TNA Knockout's Champion Gail Kim, who revealed that Madison Rayne would face Velvet Sky in a Number One Contender's match later...Eli Drake revealed his disappointment with Jessie Godderz leaving him to rejoin the Bro-Mans in a weird backstage segment...

velvet sky vs. madison rayne - tna knockout's championship #1 contender's

Two stalwarts of TNA's Knockout division going at it to become #1 contender (alongside Jade who won a #1 Contender's bout last week) in an extremely average match. The ladies just weren't given enough time to produce anything memorable at all. However, with such an easy storyline to play off of it felt like both Madison and Velvet missed an opportunity here. Both are friends, but both want a shot at the title, but I don't think you'd have been able to tell that from watching the match. They just wrestled for a bit, and then Velvet won with a flash jackknife cover. The wrestling was fine, fairly smooth, but nothing that particularly stood. Here's hoping that TNA takes an interesting situation of both Jade and Velvet having a shot at Gail Kim's belt and with Maria still causing problems for the champ and turns into something with a bit more depth and bite to it.

d'angelo dinero calls out lashley

I've no idea who decided that D'Angelo Dinero would make a good commentator, because his promo here was absolutely all over the place. He basically just said his name a lot as he continually referred to himself in third person and got a bit angry about Lashley. There were some moments that worked but it was a very flabby piece of TV, that could have beneffited from some tighter editing in post-production. Things picked up when Lashley came out bringing things back to earth, as the segment moved naturally towards a scrap between the two. The fight was done well, with both Lashley and Dinero taking down officials and security guards in order to get at each other and including Dinero jumping off the top rope onto Lashley on the outside. Josh Matthews also ended up putting on one of his strongest performances here, adding to the sense of chaos well.  An up and down segment, but one that overall felt like it paid off strengthening the feud between The Pope and Lashley and presenting Lashley with someone to look strong against as he builds towards something bigger. 

bram and eric young vs. the bro-mans

After The Bro-Mans interrupted an Eric Young promo about Jeff Hardy, we got a pretty basic tag team match, that also featured Bram. Whilst it was simplistically put together it did manage to do a number of things here. The finish saw miscommunication between Young and Bram, which furthers their issues following Bram eliminating Young from the #1 Contender's Gauntlet last week well. We also saw the Bro-Mans take a sneak victory, which builds them back up as a team, after they lost on their return to Beer Money last week. Again nothing too memorable here, but at least it managed to strengthen a number of areas and build towards future episodes of the show.

fast-forward...In a surprise development, former WWE World Tag Team Champion, Al Snow returned to TNA attacking Grado and Mahabli Shera backstage, in a particularly violent skit...

gregory shane helms has a proposal for eddie edwards

This was another weird segment and a particularly odd piece of booking. It was billed as Trevor Lee addressing the state of the X-Division, however it was actually Lee's manager Gregory Shane Helms calling out Eddie Edwards and proposing that the two join together as a tag team. When the X-Division hasn't been on TV for three weeks and stars like Andrew Everrett, Mandrews, Tigre Uno and DJZ are nowhere to be seen, why not have an X-Division match here? I can't get my head building a storyline around Helms wanting to team with Edwards, in a situation that no one has asked for. I'm desperately hoping it leads to Lee breaking out on his own and Helms moving onto somewhere else (commentary maybe?) as this partnership just isn't doing it for me.

jeff hardy vs. drew galloway - tna world heavyweight championship

A good television main event here, as Drew Galloway had his first TNA World Heavyweight Championship defense in a competitive bout with Jeff Hardy. In their first time opposite each other, Galloway and Hardy had some nice chemistry as they worked a face vs. face bout in front of a split Orlando crowd. The contest unfolded nicely and told a satisfying story as the bigger Galloway dominated early on, before the veteran Hardy got frustrated at being unable to put the champ away with a Twist of Fate and Swantom Bomb and getting much more physical around the ringside area. Hardy going for a Swantom Bomb with Galloway on the steel steps on the outside, only to meet Galloway's knees, offered a great aesthetic moment. The Captain's selling of Hardy's ringside assault was brilliant, leading to another stand out moment when he desperately reached at Hardy and hit a Futureshock DDT to retain his title. It made Galloway look super tough and made the title look very important as he was willing to fight through the pain and do anything to keep hold of it. A clever piece of booking that gave Galloway a foundation for his title reign, after he cashed in his Feast or Fired briefcase to take the title from Matt Hardy. Easily the best piece of the show.

That wasn't the end of the show though, as Matt Hardy was out to reveal that he'd be facing Galloway for the belt next week on a special edition of Impact Wrestling entitled "Revenge". A strong emotive heel promo from Matt here that would eventually lead to Bram and Eric Young attacking Jeff at ringside and Matt fighting with Galloway. I was surprised to see the babyface's end up on top to close the show though, with Galloway taking out Bram & Young and Jeff hitting a Twist of Fate on Matt. It was, however, a set up for Jeff to announce that he'd be facing Young on next week's show inside a Steel Cage. A strong show close, that set up two big matches for next week's show.

finally...

atpw scale rating - 4.5/10

This was the weakest Impact Wrestling episode in about a month and a half, with a lot of confusing segments and weird piece of booking. It was luckily saved by a good main event World Heavyweight Championship bout between Drew Galloway and Jeff Hardy, which was followed by a nice closing segment that set up two big matches for next week. The segment with Lashley and D'Angelo Dinero was also strong. It was a shame however that stuff like Gregory Shane Helms asking Eddie Edwards to be his tag team partner, the weird 25 minutes intro with two matches and an awful lot of average wrestling made this show a bit of a drag. 

With Drew Galloway scheduled to defend his TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy stepping inside a Steel Cage with Eric Young hopefully we'll see TNA return to the much stronger form it's been in for most of 2016.

TV Review: TNA Impact Wrestling #606 - Lockdown 2016 (Hardy vs. EC3 *TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP STEEL CAGE*)

*DISCLAIMER - This review contains spoilers for the 606th episode of the Impact Wrestling that will air on 28th February 2016 on Challenge TV in the UK and other international territories. Parts of this review are taken from our Live Event Review of the TV Taping that this show was a part of, which can be found here and also contains spoilers for Impact Wrestling #607, Xplosion and One Night Only: Joker's Wild*

On 24th February 2016, the 606th episode of TNA's Impact Wrestling, subtitled Lockdown 2016, aired on POP TV from the SSE Arena in Wembley, London, England (Taped on 30th January 2016). Ethan Carter III challenged Matt Hardy for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship inside a Steel Cage and Gail Kim, Velvet Sky and Maria teamed up to face the Dollhouse in the first women's Lethal Lockdown in history...but was it any good? Let's find out!

match card

Match 1 - Steel Cage Tag Team - Beer Money Inc. vs. Bram & Eric Young

Match 2 - TNA X Division Champion Steel Cage - Trevor Lee (C) with Gregory Shane Helms vs. Tigre Uno

Match 3 - Lethal Lockdown - The Dollhouse vs. Gail Kim, Maria & Velvet Sky

Match 4 - Steel Cage - Eli Drake with Jessie Godderz vs. Odarg the Great

Match 5 - TNA World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage - Matt Hardy (C) with Tyrus vs. Ethan Carter III

beer money defeated bram and eric young in a steel cage 

The show kicked off with the grudge match between Bram & Eric Young and Beer Money. A solid start to the episode, featuring some quality brawling and working within a simple narrative. The crowd was hot from the start, with James Storm ending up "locked" outside the cage, as Bram and Young worked over Bobby Roode on the inside. However, the crowd went nuts for Storm climbing over the top of the cage to attack the heels and stayed invested in the action for the rest of the clash. Whilst Beer Money were pretty dominant when both inside the cage, the heels got a decent near falls of an Elbow drop variation of the Death Sentence, before Roode & Storm claimed victory with the DWI. Perhaps two or three minutes could have been sliced off as it dragged just a little after the first DWI attempt was escaped by EY. 

ethan carter iii and rockstar spud bury the hatchet

Ethan Carter III is settling nicely into his new babyface roll, as he cut a promo about his upcoming steel cage match with Matt Hardy over the World Heavyweight Championship, whilst sitting on the steel steps outside the cage. With a quirky energy, EC3 made references to Elton John and more, before moving on to call out old pal and enemy, Rockstar Spud. Spud's promo was just as strong as EC3's as the former 2 time TNA X Division Champion agreed to let bygones be bygones, before they shook hands. After a quick reply from Matt Hardy (who bought out Tyrus & Reby Sky) the stage was set for their title bout later in the show, with the SSE Arena more than ready to see the two go at it. Personally, one these special shows, I'd much prefer things to remain all action, just to give things the PPV feel, I'd have enjoyed this much more if it had aired the week before the title match.

trevor lee defeats tigre uno in a steel cage to retain the x division championship

I can't go any further without mentioning Tigre Uno's incredible dive off the top of the steel cage, It looked just as spectacular on TV as it did inside the arena and received a HUGE pop. I just wish the commentary team had made a hell of a lot more of the kick out by Trevor Lee following the move. However for me, the rest of the match was way, way too short. As the third bout of the feud, to only give the match just over six minutes seemed like a big waste of an opportunity, especially considering the duos previous matches have been around the same length. Neither man is particularly over with the fans yet, and needed a long competitive match to show exactly what they can do. There's a lot of potential in Trevor Lee (who retained his title with a Small Package Driver) and TNA seems to be struggling to find the best way to present that at the moment. 

the dollhouse defeated gail kim, maria and velvet sky in lethal lockdown

A real moment for the Knockout's here as they were performed in their first ever Lethal Lockdown match! It was a shame that there were only three girls on each team, but it's likely that plans for the match had to be changed due to Awesome Kong being sent home from the UK tour. The bout was simply booked, with the heels always having the numbers advantage, following a lovely series of action between Gail Kim and Jade to start. The faces got some nice shine each time they entered. Maria accepted Gail's offer to join the team, after Madison Rayne had been attacked earlier on by the Dollhouse backstage, bringing interesting development, breaking the pattern of the match, allowing for an different dynamic where Gail and Velvet had to really fight from underneath. The finishing sequence got the crowd back into the match, after they had seemingly dropped off following some weak looking weapon shots from the heels. Gail hitting Eat Defeat on Marti Belle, only for Jade to break up the pinfall and hit a wicked Package Piledriver on a steel chair for the win, was timed perfectly and allowed the heel group to look strong. Gail and Velvet will hardly be hurt by losing what was essentially a handicap bout. Some of the best booking for TNA's women's division in quite some time.

lashley confronts kurt angle 

With Kurt Angle pulling out a similarly crowd-pleasing prom to the one he used two weeks ago, we got some storyline progression in the feud between he and Lashley. With the former WWE United States Champion interrupting the Olympic Gold Medalist, this was the continuation of Lashley's slow-burn heel turn as he ripped into Angle for losing to Drew Galloway in Manchester on Impact Wrestling #604. A quality bit of build to their match, which had been given a little bit of extra spice than some of the other matches on the Farewell Tour. Not sure whether this segment should have been on this Lockdown special, for the same reasons I bought up in talking bit between EC3, Spud and Hardy earlier in the night. There was enough time taken up in those two segments to accommodate  an extra cage match or even two shorter bouts.

odarg the great defeats eli drake in a steel cage

You don't often see a comedy cage match, but that's what we had here. Whether you liked this match or not has a lot to do with how much you want to see a blokes arse exposed for quite sometime. Yup, Eli Drake had his trunks pulled down, after Mahabali Shera had prevented Jessie Godderz getting involved on the outside. In between the japes, there was one truly impressive spot in here, as Great took an electric chair drop off the middle rope, after trying to climb over the top of the cage. Josh Matthews saying the feud reminded him of Kanye West and Taylor Swift was some of the most cringe-worthy pieces of commentary on TV anywhere, ever. Great once again won the bout thanks to losing his mask, as Drake managed to remove it, leaving Great to fall to floor and win the match by escape. The loss leaves Drake without a win on TV since he defeated Crimson in the World Title Series back in November 2015. Odarg the Great is 2-0.

fast-forward...After Jimmy Havoc stood up to The Decay and claimed that Rosemary was his muse, Abyss and Crazzy Steve took out the IPW:UK wrestler...Backstage, Grado attempted to convince Billy Corgan to believe that Grado shouldn't have been fired, only for Eli Drake to turn up and caused the current PBW Tag Team Champion to get ejected from the building by The Harris Brothers...A vignette on "The Miracle" Mike Bennett and Maria aired, with the duo using the catchphrase "Yes, we do"...

matt hardy defeats ethan carter iii in a steel cage to retain the tna world heavyweight championship

The feud between Matt Hardy (with Tyrus) and Ethan Carter III came to a peak as they faced each other in a dramatic steel cage match over Hardy's World Heavyweight Championship. The SSE Arena was hooked from start to finish, getting behind EC3 and pouring scorn on Hardy and his manager, Tyrus. Whilst the wrestling sections of the bout were a little off the pace, as Hardy seemed to struggle to keep up with EC3, as soon as the match got more violent and the stories of the match began to be pulled together it became a stellar contest. EC3 looked every inch of the top babyface that TNA needs him to be, as he kicked out of a number of Hardy's big moves, including a Twist of Fate with a steel chair wrapped around his neck, and continued to put on a great performance as he fought adversity managing to nuetralise the threat of Tyrus once the big man had entered the cage. 

With the drama escalating with Reby Sky charging down the ramp with the hammer (presumably the very same one she used to help Hardy win the title last month), only for Rockstar Spud to make the save to a big pop. But with EC3 making his way for the door, he got the cage door slammed right into his face...by SPUD! SWERVE CITY! The crowd was in shock and dumped heat on Spud as Hardy walked out of the cage to retain his title! A great moment to close an entertaining World Heavyweight title bout, with everyone playing their parts well. A sound piece of booking that gave EC3 a new (or old) feud to move into straight away and keep him away from the World Heavyweight Championship picture for a while, whilst also allowing EC3 to remain unpinned or submitted. Plus, Hardy's title reign rolls on, after using a series of dirty tricks to try to gain the victory, he's becoming easier to hate by the minute and it's been a surprisingly entertaining five weeks with The Iconic One a top the TNA totem pole.

finally...
atpw scale rating - 5.53/10

This was not only the best episode of the UK tour to air so far, but also the strongest episode of Impact Wrestling to air in 2016. Both marquee matches on the show delivered quality television matches, as Matt Hardy and Ethan Carter III put on a fine storyline Steel Cage match over the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, with Rockstar Spud, Tyrus and Reby Sky all playing their parts well throughout what was the Match of the Night for me. The Women's Lethal Lockdown also used a lot of storytelling based elements to get the best out of it's six performers, providing avenues for new feuds and potential TNA Knockout's Championship opponents for Gail Kim.

Personally, I think this type of show would be better off without the talking segments and if fans knew they were going to get a PPV style show (aka back to back matches) then they might be more likely to tune in. I ended up marking down the decent segment with Ethan Carter III, Rockstar Spud and Matt Hardy because it simply was needed before the Steel Cage match later on in the show, had it aired last week I would have been much more lenient on it. 

With Kurt Angle's Farewell Tour continuing next week against Bobby Roode and Drew Galloway facing off with Mike Bennett in a grudge match, let's hope that TNA can build on the momentum created here at Lockdown.